A prosecution witness in the trial of former Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, and his Commissioner for Finance, Ademola Banu, has alleged that funds earmarked for Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) projects were diverted for personal use.

Testifying before Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar of the Kwara State High Court in Ilorin on Monday, February 17, 2025, the First Prosecution Witness (PW1), Abubakar Hassan, claimed that the first defendant, Ahmed, misappropriated UBEC funds, leading to the abandonment of several education projects in the state.

The Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is prosecuting Ahmed and Banu on a 12-count charge of mismanagement and misappropriation of public funds amounting to N5.78 billion.

Hassan, an Assistant Director of Finance at UBEC, told the court that 51 UBEC projects approved under the 2013 Action Plan were abandoned due to a lack of funds, despite their approval and funding by UBEC. He noted that the UBEC Project Monitoring Committee discovered the abandoned projects across the state.

"My Lord, the Projects Monitoring Committee conducted investigations and found that many projects were either unexecuted or abandoned. We wrote to the then Kwara State governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, in May 2018 to address these issues. The projects were categorized into three: Early Care Education, Primary School Education, and Junior Secondary School Education, but we received no response," Hassan said.

He further revealed that the abandoned projects were spread across the 16 Local Government Areas of the state. Additionally, he stated that on January 6, 2015, N1 billion was loaned from the 2013 UBEC Matching Grant Account with Skye Bank Plc to pay staff salaries and pensions.

Hassan also testified that the Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) illegally withdrew N1,829,054,054.06 (One Billion, Eight Hundred and Twenty-Nine Million, Fifty-Four Thousand, Fifty-Four Naira, Six Kobo) from funds lodged on February 18, 2016. The withdrawal, he said, was used to qualify the state for the Federal Government’s UBE Matching Grants.

"State Matching Grants are not permitted to be borrowed or utilized for any purpose outside the approved action plan. The objectives of UBEC were undermined due to these infractions and the failure to implement the Action Plan," he said.

Concerned by the alleged diversion of funds, UBEC sent an official letter to the Kwara State Government requesting documentary evidence on how the funds were used. Attached to the letter were documents detailing the lodgment of funds from UBEC to the Kwara SUBEB.

Justice Abdulgafar adjourned the matter until February 18, 2025, for cross-examination of the witness.